Each professional season few major league baseball players achieve a batting average of 0.300 or better (a "3-hundred hitter") with the average major leaguer batting only about 0.250. Typically, a 3-hundred hitter is a contact-type hitter who hits ground balls and line drives and avoids strike-outs, pop-ups, and long fly balls. A contact hitter characteristically swings at and connects with the pitched ball in a slight downward motion when bringing the bat from the "launch position" to contact with the ball. The "launch position" is the position of the hands at the point in time that the front foot lands after the batters strides toward the pitcher. Also, the contact hitter times his swing to meet the baseball in front of home plate, rather than waiting for the ball to cross the plate. In addition, this type of hitter utilizes full extension of his arms and shifts his weight during the swing so he is properly balanced to strike the oncoming pitch with maximum effectiveness.
While the hitter is in motion to contact the pitch, it is crucial that the hitter maintains complete concentration and continuous eye contact with the ball. In this way, the hitter can react to and swing at the ball even if it has varying movement, such as an inside-to-outside motion, high-to-low motion, or a combination of these motions brought about by the pitch being, for example, a curve ball, a slider, or a sinker.
One prior art practice batting tee is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,937 entitled COMBINED BATTING TEE AND STRIKE INDICATOR and issued to James Gordon. The batting tee includes first and second adjustable stanchions or poles mounted on a base plate and extender members. The second stanchion has a support for resting a baseball. Because of the placement of the second stanchion relative to home plate, the hitter contacts the baseball in front of home when he assumes the normal hitter's stance at home plate. The first stanchion is positioned and adjusted relative to the second stanchion to affect the desired swing.
The stanchions can be placed at selected locations on the base plate and adjusted in height so that the hitter may practice hitting the ball at locations corresponding to, for example, a high in side pitch, or a low inside pitch. This arrangement requires, however, that the first and second stanchions be properly aligned in order to practice the proper swing. The prior art practice batting tee does not provide a mechanism to allow an amateur to properly adjust the first and second stanchion. Further, after taking one practice swing, a new ball must be placed on the second stanchion or the previously hit ball retrieved so that the hitter may practice his next swing. In either case, the hitter is required to disrupt his practice in order to setup the prior art batting tee.
Thus, a need exists for a baseball teaching device that can be used to teach a hitter to develop a slight downward swing thereby hopefully becoming a contact-type hitter. Such a device should be arranged to allow a hitter to adjust the batting tee without the involvement of an expert to ensure that the device is properly aligned. Further, such a device should allow the hitter to repeatedly practice his swing without interruptions to realign or setup the batting tee for use.